Chinese Dual PC Grow Diary

Day 1
After lurking through the forums for the past week or so, and studying almost everything I could get my hands on; from grow journals to videos, I feel I'm ready to begin the planning of my own personal op. Due to the fact that I live in China, I've decided to go with 2 stealth PCs. I've chosen this method because I don't need to grow all that much, and I feel that PCs are a little sneakier than file cabinets/dressers. My current goal is to grow 4 plants, and harvest an ounce at a time.

For the people out there that want to tell me how crazy I am for doing such a micro op, please save it. I know what I need, and it isn't a lot. I'm not looking for quantity, I'm looking for stealth.

Some of you veterans will be happy to hear that I am planning everything out a long ways in advance. I've given myself 2 months to get everything I need put together, at which time a friend will be bringing me some seeds from Canada. Which type of seed I get will largely come from recommendations within the site.

In the mean time I'll be preparing everything, ordering what I need online, and studying micro grows/PC grows, and following a few threads of other Asian ops that are out there.

The following is a list of supplies that I think I will need, organized by the places I intend to buy them. If you can think of something that I'm missing, and would need, please feel free to post.

PC Supply Shop

-2 server towers, the bigger the better
-4 high quality fans
-2 high quality power bars with surge protection

Lighting Store

-6 6500k CFLs
-6 2700k CFLs
-2 timers
-6 power bar to outlet plugs

Pet Store

-Carbon Filter supplies
-PH tester

Wal Mart

-2 thermometers/hydrometers
-soil
-glue gun
-small hack saw (for case modding)
-measuring cup
-pots
-foil (Mylar, aluminum foil)

Online

-proper nutrients

Went to wal-mart today and grabbed the following
-thermometers/hydrometers (analog, but still ok)
-glue gun
-hack saw
-potting soil

The soil I'm unsure about. I really don't know the specifics of what I need, and I think that some of the ingredients in the mixture are different than what you'd normally get in America/Canada. The bag says the following (please try to forgive the translation errors, but I'll quote it word for word from the English printed on the bag):

Garden nutritious soil card selection of natural raw materials to the professional horticultural produce formula. PH value of referrals 5.2-6.8, can be used for any geology, indoor and outdoor plants, foliage plants, the concept of flowering plants, all kinds of potted plants, fruits and vegetables and seedlings.

With peat soil, peat, coconut shell powder, vermiculite, rice husk powder, organic matter, perlite, and fertilizer. There are good security fertility, water and air permeability. Plants can promote strong root growth.

Fertile soil, plants with the necessary nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace elements. After disinfection, non-toxic, sterile and disease-free worms, accumulation of water is not available to promote healthy plant growth.

Does this look like it would work?

JoeCa1i said:

Walmart in china?What other american stores are in china.........Koo....you'll need growing supplies,and beans.....

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KFC and McDonald's are huge here. What other kind of growing supplies will I need? Seeds will be coming from a seed shop in Vancouver, so I don't need to worry about that for now.

sounds good to me can you give us what brand it is? o

Yeh it should....I always add garden lime if it does'nt have any in the mix........If your gonna start seeds in that,drain the the soil so that it gets rid of some of the nutes in the soil.Seedlings don't need nutes during the first 3weeks of growth....

Brand is in Chinese, something "garden", but I doubt that'll help.

JoeCa1i said:

Yeh it should....I always add garden lime if it does'nt have any in the mix........If your gonna start seeds in that,drain the the soil so that it gets rid of some of the nutes in the soil.Seedlings don't need nutes during the first 3weeks of growth....

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How do I drain the soil??

Hey skagnetti
The soil sounds ok and has a good ph. It also sounds like there's plenty of nutes already added so just don't add any until the plants look like they need them.
Your shopping list looks fine.
Good luck with the grow.

v12xjs said:

Hey skagnetti
The soil sounds ok and has a good ph. It also sounds like there's plenty of nutes already added so just don't add any until the plants look like they need them.
Your shopping list looks fine.
Good luck with the grow.

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Thanks v12, your diary was one of my main inspirations to go with the PC build. I'll have pics once there's a little more to show.

Hey skagnetti
Really glad the journal helped. I Look forward to seeing those pics.
I guess you are doing a grow box and a flower box with the bulbs you are buying. Just be aware that you may run out of room if you veg for too long.

v12xjs said:

Hey skagnetti
Really glad the journal helped. I Look forward to seeing those pics.
I guess you are doing a grow box and a flower box with the bulbs you are buying. Just be aware that you may run out of room if you veg for too long.

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Don't worry, with my complete lack of experience, I'll be sure to post all the time to make sure I'm not screwing up too badly. Also joined the PC club.

1 Veg and 1 flower is the plan, and maybe grow a mother later to clone from. You think I can get away with a 1/4oz avg per plant?

As a fellow China grower, I'd like to say good luck, and good going.

As far as soil, I've found a mixture that works pretty well. I just get regular potting soil, but I mix it with a lot of coco coir, perlite, and a bit of gravel. It's nice and light, retains moisture well, but still dries out just fine. I got the coco coir in a big block from a nearby plant market, and the perlite came from a Home Depot that I found.

For lighting, how many watts do you have?

Since you're doing a PC grow, make sure you get an indica strain. That'll reduce flowering time, and also keep the plant small. Most of your weed right now is probably locally grown sativas, or more sativas coming up from Cambodia.

Lastly for now, you could probably just paint the inside of the PC boxes white and save money on mylar. It would also probably save a bit of room in the box.

I'd be a bit pissed off if I got 7g per plant.
Prolly a realistic target to start with though.
If that's your aim I think you will be pleasantly surprised with your pc grow

I'm just starting an experiment with a weekly clone perpetual in my case. I'll let you know if I learn any tricks.

You'll find lots of sound advice on here, but good local knowledge is invaluable. Heed it.

I'm just trying to be realistic, and seeing how it's my first time I thought it would be better to aim low.

Here's what I'm working with. A couple of big ol' server towers. More pics after I finish gutting them.

You should have no problem squeezing a 1/4 out of those beasts

Gutted the cases in about an hour, covered everything in mylar and threw in 3 fans (2 exhaust and 1 intake). Left the wiring intact so I can have the front LEDs running. Next will be the wiring and installing my lights. You guys think this will be enough airflow??

Neat work.
I think the fans are a bit low down if you plan to mount the lights up at the top.
That setup can only really draw air around the bottom half of the case. The lights and the plant tops will be above the level of the exhaust and all that space at the top will turn into a heat trap with nowhere for the air to go.

Would mounting a fourth fan on the roof blowing down solve this problem?